Melanie Wasserman holds a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.P.A. from Indiana University (Bloomington). She was a pre-doctoral trainee at the Carolina Population Center. Dr. Wasserman is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (Niger), fluent in French, Spanish, and Hausa, and currently learning Portuguese. Her research focus is on the determinants of preventive care utilization among women with limited English proficiency. With her mentor, Melissa Clark, she is conducting research on the effect of marital status on cancer screening behavior among unmarried Latina women over the age of 40. This research consists of both secondary data analysis using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Assessment System (BRFSS), and the development of a self-report assessment tool for attitudes and practices associated with cancer screenings among older, unmarried Latina women.

Publications

Wasserman MR, Clark MA, Rakowski W, Truchil R. Marital Status And Cancer Screening Among Middle-Aged And Older Latina Women. In preparation.

Wasserman MR, Meersman S, Clark MA, Rakowski W. Distance to screening facilities and mammography utilization among unmarried middle-aged and older women in Rhode Island. In preparation.

Clark MA, Neighbors CN, Wasserman MR, Armstrong G, Drnach M, Howie S, Hawthorne T. Strategies and cost of recruitment of middle-aged and older unmarried women: Comparing women who partner with men and women who partner with men. In preparation.

Wasserman MR, Bender DE, Kalsbeek WD, Suchindran CM. 2006. A church-based approach for research with Latina immigrant women. Population Research and Policy Review 25 (2) (in press).

Wasserman MR, Bender DE, Lee SYD, Morrissey J, Norton EC, Mouw T. 2006. Social Support Among Latina Immigrant Women: Bridge Persons As Mediators Of Cervical Cancer Screening. Journal of Immigrant Health 8(1) (in press).

Wasserman MR, Bender DE. 2004. Intervention Strategies to Enhance Latina Immigrants' Use of Preventive Health Services: a Systematic Literature Review. (In preparation; revise and resubmit).